SSA Baby Names Predictions Update

The Social Security list of the top 1,000 baby names for 2010 is out! Let's see how I did predicting the top risers and fallers:

Fastest Rising Names (Girls):

• Everly: Strike out, not in top 1,000 for 2010. Next year, for sure.
• Tiana: Nailed it! Ranked #604 in 2009, #334 in 2010! This was the third-fastest riser (behind Maci and Giuliana).
• Aurora: eh. This name rose an anemic 15 spots.
• Cecilia: Wrong! down 11 spots.
• Harlow: Yes! #904 in 2009, #778 in 2010. I said it would go up 100+ spots; it went up 126.
• Bristol: Yes! Went from #666 to #562. Over 100 spots again.
• Bonus prediction: Amalia: Nope, didn't happen.

Fastest Rising Names (Boys):

• Archer: #681* in 2009, #550 in 2010. The SSA does a list of "Change in Popularity," but it only accounts for names that were in the top 500. If Archer were included on that list, +131 would make it the #5 fastest riser of 2010.
• Bentley: Called it! Top riser for boys in 2010. Up 414 spots over 2009.
• Jaxton: Modest success. Rose from #853 to #798.

Fastest Falling Names (Girls):

• Analia: Called it! This was absolute rock bottom for falling names. Went from #330 to #802. I am so relieved.
• Miley: Modest success. Dropped 28 spots.
• Yaretzi: Completely and utterly wrong — it rose 125 spots! There must be some celebrity in Spanish-language media that I am unaware of.

 Fastest Falling Names (Boys):

• Aaden: Called it! This terrible spelling was the fastest falling name for boys.
• Peyton: Wrong-o. Only lost one spot, which is basically the same as holding steady.
• Jacoby: Modest success — it lost 29 spots.

I think I did pretty well! I correctly predicted the fastest fallers for both boys and girls, and I picked a couple of good risers (Bentley and Tiana). I'm kicking myself for not choosing Maci as well — I picked Bentley and didn't even consider Maci. I didn't have enough faith in the power of Teen Mom.

My worst miss was Yaretzi. Not only did it not fall, it rose substantially! I must just not be plugged in to the pop culture reference fueling its rise.

*In addition to releasing the 2010 list, the SSA has slightly revised the 2009 list — Archer used to be #679 in 2009, now it is #681.